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Episode 1
Wen Kamuy (ウェンカムイ, Uen Kamui) is the 1st episode of the Golden Kamuy anime. Synopsis In the year Meiji 37 (1904) at 203 Meter Hill, the Imperial Japanese Army lies in wait within the trenches as Saichi Sugimoto eats an ant that was crawling on his finger, saying it is sour. The commander of the army orders them to charge and they run uphill, as cannonballs fly while being shot at by the Russian forces. Sugimoto is shot in the neck but manages to hold his footing and continues forward, jumping into the Russian trenches as he impales a soldier with his bayonet. He continues his fierce assault, declaring himself to be Sugimoto the Immortal. The scene then shift to Hokkaido, near Otaru some years later where Sugimoto is panning for gold as a drunken old man ask him about his time in the Russo-Japanese War as well as his reputation as the Immortal. He then asked Sugimoto why he had not been awarded for his heroics to which he admitted that he had killed a superior officer he didn't like and that he needed money. The old man laughs and begins to tell Sugimoto an interesting story about gold, which catches Sugimoto's attention. A long time ago, there was once a large amount of gold which the Ainu then stored up in order to fight the Japanese who had been oppressing them by forbidding them to hunt salmon or deer, and stealing their lands. However, a single man stole all the gold and killed the Ainu who owned them, which amounted to 20 kan worth. As he was being hunted by the police, the man hid the gold somewhere in Hokkaido and was arrested and thrown into Abashiri Prison before he could tell anyone its location. The man had wanted to tell his comrades where the gold was but never sent any letters as the guards would just steal it. One of the guards cut the tendon of one of his legs so that he could not escape and so he put tattoos on the bodies of his fellow death row inmates with a code that would reveal the location of the treasure. He then told the tattooed convict that if they can escape from the prison, they can have half of the gold. When Sugimoto calls it a strange story, the old man revealed that in order to crack the code, one would need all of the prisoners' tattoos. Hearing this rumour, some members of the military took the prisoners out of their cells in order to be "transported" for the gold but the prisoners took this as an opprtunity to kill the soldiers and escaped. Since then, no one has caught the escapees or found the gold. Before Sugimoto could ask the drunken man any more questions, he found that the old man had fallen asleep. As Sugimoto warmed himself up by the fire, he recalls a certain time he had spent with his friend Toraji, asking him to come with him to pan for gold in Hokkaido. Toraji says that he wants to get a doctor to look at his wife Umeko's eyes who is losing more of her vision everyday. He then tells Sugimoto that the best eye doctors are in America and that the fee for the boat tickets and the surgery will cost around 200 yen, however with a lucky gold panning, it will be able to cover them. Toraji laments that once the war is over, relationships between Japan and the United States will worsen and pleads Sugimoto to take care of his family. Sugimoto looks over and see that Toraji had been fatally wounded and calls for him as he sinks into the ground. Sugimoto wakes up from his nightmare to find the drunken man had now sobered up and is carrying his rifle, saying that he spoke too much. Sugimoto then grabs his rifle, challenging the drunk man if he wants to find out if he truly is immortal. The drunk man hesitates for a moment which allowed Sugimoto to punch him, causing him to fall and drop the rifle. Sugimoto picks up his rifle and loads it, saying that the rifle can be now be shot, which causes the drunk man to run away. He then begins to think that the story the drunk man had told him may just be real. Sugimoto walks into the forest looking for the drunk man, finding him buried under the snow dead. He then digs him out from the snow and finds that the drunken man's stomach had been eaten with a bear footprint nearby. Sugimoto takes the drunken man's shirt off and finds that his back has a tattoo all over it, realizing that the story was real. He then carries the corpse away and notices a bear cub in a tree nearby before seeing a large mother bear charging at him. Sugimoto tries to pull out his rifle, but it is stuck within the drunken man's leg. The bear lunges at Sugimoto as he steps back, causing him to fall down. As Sugimoto braces himself, an arrow comes flying and hits the bear. Sugimoto turns around and sees a young Ainu girl who explained that the arrow had been tainted with poison and the bear will die shortly afterwards. True to the girl's word, the bear succumbs to the poison as Sugimoto and the girl surrounds it. The girl then begins to carve out a portion of the bear that had been hit with the arrow so that the poison does not spread to the rest of the body. She notices the drunk man, asking if he is dead, and Sugimoto explains the situation to her. However the girl calls it strange since bears that come out of hibernation do not eat immediately and shows the bear stomach to Sugimoto, revealing that it is empty. Sugimoto comes to the realization that another bear must've eaten the drunk man and the girl tells him that the bear who ate the drunk man is a Matakarip a particularly foul-tempered, dangerous bear that failed to go into hibernation. The Ainu girl asks Sugimoto what he will do with the body and he replies that he will take it to a nearby village. She tells him not to do so, as since the man had been eaten by a Matakarip which will chase anyone who steals food from them. Sugimoto says that he cannot leave the body behind to which the girl suggests he shoot the bear. The girl notes that it will be dark soon and that Sugimoto should prepare himself otherwise he should leave the body behind and go. Sugimoto then pulls the drunken man's shirt up, revealing the tattoo to the girl, saying that he has an interesting story to tell. Elsewhere, the Matakarip kills the bear cub as it sniffs for its stolen prey. Sugimoto reveals the story of the stolen Ainu gold to the girl and asks her to help him since she is accustomed to hunting bear. He then goes on to say that he initially didn't believe it before the girl tells him that she believes it as one of the slain Ainu in the story was her father. She says that she will elaborate later as they need to gather wood. As night falls, Sugimoto asks if bears fear fire but the girl says they don't and that they will use the light of the fire to shoot it and the corpse will serve as decoy to ambush it. As Sugimoto brings the corpse closer to the fire, the girl stops him as she realizes something about the tattoo, that the one who imprinted the tattoo never intended to share the gold with the prisoners as their tattoos have been made in a similar way to the lines made on deers or bears being stripped of their pelt. Sugimoto is shocked by this revelation and asks if they could skin the corpse before the bear comes, but the Ainu girl says they do not have time as the bear always stay close to their prey and that once they have killed humans, they become dangerous and evil gods who don't fear humans known as Wenkamuy. She tells him to keep the fire going as they cannot fight in the dark and that they will have the advantage once morning comes. The girl tells him to find sitat, white birch bark, that they can use as torch. As Sugimoto picks up the wood, he comes across the brown bear, which destroys their campfire. Sugimoto attempts to punch the bear, but it has no effect on the animal as the flames dies out. The Ainu girl tells him to quickly get below the bear and cling onto its belly as she pulls out an arrow, preparing to shoot it. Sugimoto yells at her not to shoot him but as the moon comes out, she lets loose the arrow. However, the arrow fails to pierce the bear as Sugimoto had stabbed it with his knife, causing the bear to stand up. The bear then charges at the girl, causing Sugimoto to lose his grip as the girl prepares to fight. Just then, a white wolf, Retar leaps out and attack the bear causing it to momentarily stop. As Retar and the bear fights, the Ainu girl tells Sugimoto to aim for the heart under the armpit. Sugimoto shoots the bear, grabbing its attention towards him and as the bear prepares to pounce on him, Sugimoto declares that he is Immortal Sugimoto as he points his bayonet upward to the bear's body. With the bear defeated, the Ainu girl asks Sugimoto if he is still alive to which he confirms it. She praises him for his courage and strength as she helps Sugimoto out from under the bear. The two then introduces themselves to each other as Sugimoto Saichi and Asirpa. Sugimoto asks Asirpa about the huge white dog, and she corrects him that Retar is a wolf. As she carves up the brown bear, Asirpa begins to explain about the origin of the Ainu gold and Sugimoto proposes that they work together to find the gold and that he will even give them to her in exchange for a small split. She then gives Sugimoto the bear's gall bladder that he can sell for a high amount of money as the Ainu does not waste any part of the bear's body. Asirpa says that she will use the mother bear's body instead of the brown bear as it has become an evil god that killed people and that she does not want to kill people either. As Sugimoto skins the dead corpse, he says that all along, Asirpa actually wants to find the gold so that she can avenge her father's death and that she helped him for that purpose. He says that he will be the one to dirty his hands while Asirpa lend him her wisdom and that while they have differing goal, they share the same path. If they were to join forces for that cause, Sugimoto claims that they will be unstoppable. Meanwhile, a hooded man approaches the campfire that Sugimoto and the drunken man had left behind. Adapted Chapters *Chapter 1 *Chapter 2 Character Appearances * Saichi Sugimoto (Debut) * Gotou (Debut) * Ainu Killer (Debut) * Tattooed Prisoner (Debut) * Toraji (Debut) * Umeko (Debut) * Asirpa (Debut) * Retar (Debut) * Hooded Man (Debut) Category:Anime Category:Episodes